Lost My Pieces
by xTroubleNGlitter
Summary: (A/U to 'Eyes On Fire') What if Merle hadn't found Carrie in the woods, but a little girl found her? Clinging to life, Sophia finds a safe place in the fear and loneliness she has been thrust into. Fate has a funny way of doing things, because an unlikely family has been formed out of pain, desperation, and a sliver of hope. The scars will remain. A/U. Rating may change.
1. Sophia

**A/N: **Okay, so I was dallying around with things and this came to me. I had spoken with it with other people who liked my story 'Eyes on Fire' and one person was interested if she had seen Sophia. I started thinking about what IF Carrie found Sophia. Then the second idea hit me. What if Shane DID leave and met up with them as they were looking for Carol and the group. I'm not gonna turn this into a reuniting with the group thing. I don't know if I even wanna take them to Woodbury. I'm testing the waters...let me know what you guys think.

* * *

Her eyes searched frantically, feet moving over broken branches and small holes dug in the ground as she tried to follow Rick's instructions.  
_What side was the sun supposed to be on?_  
Stopping she glanced around again at her surroundings. Rick had confused her beyond a shadow of a doubt, and now here she stood, completely lost in the woods in a place she knew nothing about. He had lured the walkers that had followed her off and she was sure that they were dead. But now what else was there to deal with?  
How many walkers had split from the herd? How many were already were in the woods?

Was anyone looking for her?  
Of course. Her mother had to be looking for her, with Rick and Shane and Andrea. They were all looking for her.

Right?

Feet shuffling in the distance startled her as she turned to find what was making the noise. Eyes squinted she tried to find an image to put to the sound. Finally Sophia's eyes met with the silhouette of a stumbling figure walking down the small hill. Another walker.

Sophia's hands gripped her doll tightly as she turned and took off into the woods. She couldn't tell the highway from the rest of her surroundings, or where the sun should have been. All that she knew was to run.

Her sneakers were worn, as they had been for a few months. She had seen a girl at school with black sneakers, but they were really cool to. They were sort of bigger and had a high tongue, the girls and boys called them high tops and she had seen a lot of the 'rough' looking boys in her high school wear them at the bus stop she shared with them. The pair she liked had lime green and pink detailing and shoe laces and silver shiny pieces on the front. She wanted to get something other than the pair of sneakers that had become rather crude since she had got them at the beginning of the school year.  
When she asked her dad about it, he looked up from his chair and snickered.

"_You got the money for them stupid shoes?" _

Carol said that maybe when it was her birthday she could get them, but she knew it wasn't the truth. She'd never get them. It was just another thing in the long list of things that she knew she could never get.

Sophia had given up on it quickly, and was stuck with the same sneakers she had now. The front was beginning to wear, and she could feel her toes wiggle the material a lot looser than before this...mess began.

Pace slowing she rested against a tree after looking around. Doll raised she let out a quick sigh."What are we gonna do?" She whispered. "I'm scared." The soft material of the doll pressed against her had helped qualm her nerves. When she would hear the noise around her, when the world collapsed, her doll was the only thing that made sense.

After her short time she took off again, stumbling and moving as she did before. She wanted to find the highway, to find someone. If she could find her way back to the highway then all would be fine. All Sophia could remember about running off was the fact that her mother was yelling and the biters were fast on her trail, hungry for her. How the walker that found her under the car could be smart enough to do that had been buzzing in her head when she found a moment of silence.  
At the CDC she watched the video of the person that had been bitten and how they had come back when they were gone. Something in their brain. She didn't understand much but she knew that something came back in them. They weren't...themselves, they didn't think.  
But that walker thought to look under thanks to her smell...or sound...or something.

The heat of the area had strung her out as she continued to stumble around. She passed by a few places she thought she could hide or rest and continued on her way. Sophia's fingers pushed on the braided string of her doll's hair. When she got nervous, whether because of her parents or school, she'd always have her hands fiddling something. It was an instinct that remained even after this mess of a new world was born.

Would she see anyone ever again? Would she be able to hug her mother again...to tell her how much she really did love her?  
Carl crept into her mind to. She had considered him nice and he wasn't mean to her like other boys at school were. She wanted to know him more, find out what comics and video games he liked. They talked a little bit about it but Lori and Carol had told them it wasn't smart to think about that stuff cause they'd miss it too much.

She wanted to learn how to handle a gun, or a crossbow like that man Daryl did. He was really scary, but something seemed cool about him, especially after seeing him be nicer at the CDC. After he lost his brother, something changed about him a little bit. She had only made direct eye contact with him a few times, but something had changed in the brief seconds they exchanged.

When the realization hit her, it hit like a semi truck. Tears began to sting her eyes and brim off her light lashes to the beet red cheeks from her own broken composure and the sun. Running down her face the tears momentarily cooled them as she heated up in frustration. No one had found her yet, and she was pretty sure she hadn't gone far from where she had been.

If Officer Grimes wouldn't have left her she wouldn't be like this. Didn't he want to take her back to her mom?

She thought to herself about how Shane wouldn't have left her alone. Sure he was a tad on the scary side, but she had heard about what he did to her dad when Amy and Andrea had spoken about it with Lori. It was all hush hush, but she could still hear the words clear as day.

Shane wanted to protect everyone, and he was doing the best he could until Officer Grimes had shown up. For a moment she wished had never shown up. Then they wouldn't have gone to the CDC, Jacqueline would probably still be alive, they wouldn't have been on the highway, and she wouldn't be in the predicament she was in now.

* * *

Dusk approached and she hadn't heard or seen anyone. No voices, no shadows, not even gun shots. It was like they had stopped looking for her.  
It was starting to cool down and Sophia was still lost without any idea of where she was going or what she was going to do. Sophia knew she couldn't just lie down on the ground and go to sleep, no way. One of those things would stumble over her or smell her like they had before. Then she'd probably be eaten and it'd be a done deal.  
The only thing that still made sense to her was the clear fact that she was determined to one thing when this all started.  
Keep on living.  
For her, for her friends, and for her mom.

The sky was painted red, pink, and purple, three of her favorite colors. Hints of orange touched around but she didn't care for it too much. A large tree with many branches had finally come into her sight and she climbed them up for a few feet. At least it was no where that the walkers could reach up but wasn't too harsh of a fall.  
It wasn't like she was going to get sleep anyways. Who could even sleep anymore? Ever since the CDC she hadn't slept well. Dr. Jenner had killed himself, he didn't want to live anymore. Her mom and everyone else pleaded and begged. Jacqueline stayed behind, so did Andrea, but Dale had gotten her out. Why didn't he get Jacqueline out too?

With no signs of walkers in sight she pushed her bottom lip out and began to cry, smothering her face into her doll in the process. Sophia pulled her legs up to her chest and sat curled up, sobbing until she had fallen asleep to the sounds of bugs buzzing and birds chirping and moving through the trees. For a brief time in her sleep, it was pure quiet and dark. There was a certain silence that she hadn't found in ages, and it was great.

Stirring she noticed that it was still dark out. Without Dale's watch she didn't know what time it was, and that upset her. There were times she could recall waking up when it was dark out and not knowing if it was before midnight so she could go back to sleep or close enough to the morning where she could go make herself breakfast or read without waking her dad up.

The stars were in the sky, and without the pollution of Atlanta and nearby cities, the sky was beautiful, at least from where she could see.  
Reaching in the dark she snapped a few branches away and smiled at the sight in the sky. It was gorgeous. For once, there was something beautiful in the world. The sky had never faltered, the stars hadn't skipped a beat. They danced along the sky like nothing had changed, and had a bigger audience with the pollution and city skyline gone.  
In class, during their computer time learning to type, she would go on the map sites a lot. They always had a 'nighttime' feature where if you hit it, you could see the location from the most recent night and see all the lights that covered that region. Some places in America were covered, she could point out Philadelphia, New York City, Hollywood, and Las Vegas. Then there were other places, like the plains and mountains, with hardly any light. On the coasts the lines shined while the heart of the country slept. If she had the chance to see the country now on a night map, it would be pitch black, like the rest of the world.  
Yawning she adjusted her head against the bark of the tree and peered up a the sky. Sophia wondered if her mom had stopped to see how beautiful the sky was now. Even when they were at the quarry she never noticed, and she wanted to kick her own butt for it. If she would have known it was this pretty, she would have taken the chance to admire them more when she wasn't staring death in the face.  
Still tired she reclined back against the tree as her eyes fluttered. Sleep was calling again, and with the starry night sky as the scenery overhead, the idea of human eating creatures below seemed for once...less frightening.

* * *

Crust covered her eyes where the tears had pooled during her sleep to burn against the sun rising in the distance. She had made it through the night. She made it to morning. A small sob escaped her lips at the realization that she survived. Surveying the sky she couldn't help but smile at the same pink and red hues that had filled her with dread just a few hours beforehand. It was like she had accomplished the impossible and survived. By now she'd already be awake and eating breakfast with her mom and Carl and Lori and they'd be on the move yet again. Rubbing her stomach she frowned at the small growl it made. Now she was hungry, and she'd be looking for food sooner or later? What could she do?

Sophia didn't have have a knife, let alone know how to hold one, and she couldn't stomach killing innocent animals like Daryl and his brother did so easily.

Her mind immediately back tracked at the thought of the older Dixon brother. They left him chained to a roof. Hearing Daryl scream and cry still haunted her as she watched from behind her parents. No one was upset besides him.  
His name...Merle. It was Merle because she could remember snickering at how such a mean looking man had such a girly name. At least her daddy had a name that fit a boy. But they had left him. Officer Grimes had chained him up and they ran off without him.  
Whether he was a mean man or not, she knew no one deserved that. They said they were going back for him and when they returned to the camp, after she had seen Amy slaughtered and the camp torn to shreds, she wondered who would really survive anymore. No child should have had to think the thoughts racing through her head. Sophia had started questioning humanity, Officer Grimes and Shane's morals, Daryl's bond to his brother, and even her own bond to her mother.

Sophia had sat pondering for a few hours that morning. The fear of moving and being in a chase and the train of thought that she had been delving on for hours stopping her from pushing forward.

She had to find food, find water, find anything that could help her stay alive and get back to her mom. Maybe they would be out looking for her again once they woke up and she'd tell her mom how she ran from the walkers and slept through the night and survived on her own. It sounded like a brave tale of wonder to her as she repeated it in her head. Imagination couldn't be lost, no matter what the situation was. If the dead could come back to life, what else was possible?

After a while longer and a new found determination Sophia climbed down with doll still in hand and began to walk, tip toeing through the walls and keeping her eye out for walkers. The morning had dawned and Sophia couldn't help but smile when she found an open creek. It had been what seemed a few hours and she was growing tired and weary without food. Stomach still growling she stopped at a sound that wasn't dangerous, but something she had wanted to hear for a while. There was running water. Stumbling down the small hit she came up to the edge of the water and fell down on her knees. Sitting her doll on the log next to her she cupped her hands and began to drink. It seemed untouched by anything and she couldn't help but smile as the cool water hit her face and dribbled down over her chin. If she could hide out and stay in that area for a while, maybe even find some berries or an area nearby that had some fruit or veggies, even a house with canned food, she knew that if she held out they'd find her. Something had been restored in her as she splashed the water over her face.

Maybe she could make it.

Those thoughts were stopped as she heard something to peak her sound. In the distance, it was an all too familiar growling.

Over her shoulder she could see a stumbling silhouette turn and look her way. Standing up she took another gulp of water and sprinted across the log and up the hill and into the woods.

Not looking back she pushed forward and finally came to a stop when the sound and fear had lessened. Looking back Sophia frowned, she had left her doll behind.

She felt no better than Officer Grimes.

At least she had some water in her, and knew where a source was. If she stayed in the area for a little bit, they'd find her any time. Rick and Shane were cops, they had looked for missing girls before, they knew where to look. They'd find her no trouble.

At least she hoped.

Hope was all she had left.

* * *

**A/N: **This was haaaaard to write. Y'all have no idea, I can write Carrie easy as hell, I can write Merle pretty easy, Daryl is okay for me. But Sophia? Oh hell I'm gonna have trouble with this at first. So, basically I am rewriting this shit. Sophia should NOT be dead! Neither should Shane, Milton, and Merle, at least to me.

So I'm gonna be trying my hand at this. I don't know where I'm gonna take it. If I could get some opinions from y'all I would LOVE that!

The title of the story is inspired by the OST from the anime 'Toradora.' If you want a link to the song please feel free to PM me, it's a beautiful instrumental piece and very inspiring.

Hope you all enjoy! Leave a review, follow, and favorite.

Lots of love xo


	2. Shane

**A/U: **I jumped on starting chapter two cause usually I find when I post more than one chapter, people will read. I had worked on chapter one for a while and just today was tweaking it. I hope y'all do enjoy though, I really hope everyone will like this story.

**Blueberrybunny3630: **it actually is really hard to write Sophia for that reason. She's a child, her thought process is more limited but because she's a tween it's a tad easier. I'm re-watching her episode when she disappears and when said 'don't leave me' to Rick I got teary eyed. She's so heartbreaking.

* * *

**Chapter 2: Shane**

"_Leave me here, forever in the dark."_

x

* * *

Where the hell had he gone wrong?  
Everything he had done since this all started, it all seemed to be right. Yes, there were choices made. No, he was not proud of many of them. But one thing was sure, he kept Carl and Lori safe, everyone else was just incentive. As long as they were safe, he knew he was doing something right. This was his responsibility when he had to leave Rick's corpse at the hospital. This would be his cross to bear, to give them some sense of stability.

To show that someone cared...that they weren't alone.

Shane sat in the Hyundai he found, thumb rubbing the cool metal of the handle for his Glock. His eyes moved up to see Lori in the distance with Carol as they had been moving around. Thanks to the herd, they had lost Sophia. He knew she was a sweet girl, she never bothered no one and kept to herself, thanks to her dad. The thought of that sick bastard still slithering around in his mind made him angry. Every punch still felt great to him, every blow that he delivered to that man. It was icing on the cake that he had been bitten. Shane knew that it was a dark thought, and he still felt bad for the death of Amy in parallel to Ed, but knowing that one sick bastard was gone from the world somehow put him at a small peace.

They had been out to look for Sophia, but to no avail it had been evening and they returned empty handed. All Daryl had found were a few tracks that had faded away.

Carol had seemingly spent the entire day staring off from the guard rail of the highway into the woods. Repeating in his head, the images of Sophia running and Carol screaming for her were burned into his memory and continued to repeat again and again. They had let this happen.  
If they would have known anything about a herd on the way, if they would have gone to Fort Benning first instead of the CDC, this wouldn't have happened. Rick had spoken about the group needing to be stronger, and what they were fighting for.  
This certainly wasn't a way to get the message across.

It had pounded his head for days now. Since Lori had scratched him in the CDC.

He wouldn't be able to stand being there, with her, with Rick, with all of them for longer. In his heart, it killed him to turn Carl away, but he knew that there was no other choice. If he stayed there, with Sophia missing and Lori and Carl and Rick, it wouldn't stay strong, the group would fall apart. In the woods, Rick had told him that they needed to get back to the highway before the group began to panic. Shane felt awful for Carol, watching her move back and forth and still without any sort of peace of mind.

Daryl and Glenn had stayed in the woods while Glenn and Shane returned to the highway. They had assured Carol the best that they could, even though Shane could feel the empty promises spew from his lips with remorse.

After speaking with Lori, he was dead set on leaving. She of course wanted to act high and mighty, and dangle Carl in front of him. Shane could still hear his telling him, as she put it, to 'stay the hell away from her and her son.' She wanted to dance on his heart, she wanted to take the pieces and stomp on them. If they were on fire, she wouldn't even put them out. Lori would probably even get marshmallows and invite Carl and Rick to roast 'em over what remained of him.

With bags packed he sat them in the back of the car, marveling at the fact it still had the keys in the ignition and fuel in the tank. Someone had probably ran off and no one even took the vehicle.

Now all he had to do was wait and slip away in the night. That was his whole plan, to just keep driving. He wanted to make it to Benning, and if the group got their after him, with Carl and Sophia, that would put his mind at ease. But, anymore, he wanted to get away from them. All the swirling emotions were hurting him and it wouldn't be long before someone broke down. Andrea was already falling off the saddle, he had agreed with Dale to take anyway her weapon until everyone had training.

When Carol had seen Rick and Daryl come through the woods, he wasn't sure what to think. Her face, he had seen so many mothers and sisters break down over their daughters and sisters going missing. This in so many ways was different.  
The pain was so much worse on her face, especially when she had seen the blood on Daryl's pants.

In the pit of his stomach, he knew. Everyone had it in the backs of their minds, no one just wanted to talk about it.

A twelve-year-old girl surviving the night in the woods that had just been a part of a herd of walkers storming through on the highway?  
And he was the king of everything.

He didn't like being around for Carol to figure it out, or to find her. That was something he was without a doubt sure he didn't want to see in this world. Watching Amy die...it was more than he could bear. Leaving Rick behind in the hospital? The hardest thing he had ever done.

Having more of that, more people to lose, more heartbreak.

It was like depression over and over. Something died a little in everyone because of it and you just felt number every time. Reality called and it had a grim message. There was no hope.

* * *

As Shane watched the evening turn into night, everyone retreated to their vehicles and Dale's RV to rest. The next day would be another search, and it'd most likely turn up empty. Carol would remain without answers and they'd be dragging out an inevitable truth. Nothing of that was what he wanted to coöperate with.

There wasn't even a group meal, everyone had gone to sleep...or tried to sleep.

Holding the key in the ignition he turned it to start, smiling at the sight of the radio clock coming on. It was still functioning. The neon numbers shined with '1:47 A.M.' in their digitized pattern. The car wasn't too loud, it was one of those new ones that was supposed to quieter and run easier.

Rolling up his windows he smiled, they were somewhat tinted. This car just kept on getting better and better. He had ciphered some fuel and the tank was up past half. With an empty gas canister and hose in the back with his stuff he wouldn't have much trouble getting fuel since they were on the highway. All he had to do was turn the other way and take off. Pulling out from the blocked side of the road he looked both ways of the road. Chuckling to himself he shook his head, stupid instinct, there would be no need for junk like that anymore. Turning left he drove down the highway and took off into the night.

Looking back in his rear view mirrors there was no light from any of the vehicles. It was black the second he drove away from their sight and he frowned.

It was that easy, to get away?

Shane didn't want to think about what would happen the next morning, what they would say or do. All he knew was that it was no longer his priority or business. He had driven for a bit before he pulled off to a dirt road and stopped for the rest of the evening. The group wasn't going to move for a while, not until they at least gave up on Sophia. He could rest for the night and sleep a bit easier with the separation.

Clock reading '3:01 AM' he groaned and hit the button to push his window up. Turning the starter off he glanced over his shoulder and climbed into the back seats to sleep. Locking the doors he rested his head on the back of his arm and closed his eyes, finding some sort of relaxation in the cushioned seats. Newer cars were more comfy for the past few years, and he was grateful for that as he drifted off into a dreamless dark sleep.

That morning he woke up to a bright blue sky and his skin damp in sweat. Harsh curses escaped his throat as he realized he barely cracked the windows. At least it wasn't ninety degrees at night yet or he would have been as good as those walkers. If worse got to worse, he'd have to break down and get a cutter to make a sunroof but in the mean time it was something he didn't have the time to dwell on.

Waking up was difficult from the place he was in, burly frame sprawled out on the seats. On his side facing the seats his leg had thrown itself over the seat with an arm dangling off to touch the floor of the vehicle. Hair a nappy mess he pushed the humidity drenched waves back and climbed to the front of the vehicle to begin driving again.

Staying on the highway or going off on the dirt road were his options. Glancing back he turned on the car and backed it up. Quickly he pulled back off into the highway and continued down the ways. If he could find an exit before Atlanta and find another way to Fort Benning he'd be set. That road block wasn't going to get moved any time soon so a detour would have to be taken. Getting hold of a map would be his biggest priority for the moment.

He had passed a few things he recognized before turning off the highway to the left to take a road that seemed new. It wasn't a dirt one, but it was street and it still connected to the woods. In a weird way he held out that maybe Sophia would emerge from there, but he had driven for about twenty minutes and she would have had to survive the night and start walking in the morning to get there by the early afternoon.

He had passed houses that were in good condition and some in poor condition. His arm propped out the window he rested his temple against his knuckles. The houses disappeared and he returned to an all woods surrounding yet again.

Looking both ways again on instinct he stopped for a second. Turning left he pushed on down toward the woods. Now surrounding him he kept an eye out. Shane thought it would be easy to just take off and leave, but he found himself holding some hope out. Maybe it was for Carol, or maybe it was that Rick and Daryl would find her, or maybe it was for himself, to see that innocent little girl was alive and safe.

Of course, if it was Carl, he'd still be there and searching all day and night. Guilt washed over him in that thought, choosing favoritism by nature to find a child in this hellish new world they were sucked into. It wasn't like he didn't like Sophia, it was just an opinion on the fact he had been around to watch Carl grow up since he was little. If he would have been around Sophia, maybe he would have felt the same...

...or maybe he would have taken her out of that family.

Regardless, he had to keep on driving. For all that he had in him, not turning around and going back was one of the most difficult things he was facing. The frustration he felt in both situations was immense, and deep in his heart he felt the pain sear him. Shane knew this was abandonment, but it was what Lori wanted. She could sugarcoat it any way she wanted, she wanted him gone and he was more than happy to oblige with the way things were going since Rick was in charge.

Ever since he waltzed in, everything seemed to go south. This was a complete turn of what had gone on before he showed up. Everything was orderly and peaceful, well...

...with the Dixons it was as good as he was going to get.

But at least they had a system going. Sure, they had issues with Ed, and of course Merle and Daryl were about as asinine as rednecks were going to get. Through all of that Shane had kept the group together and they thrived at the quarry.

Shane's disdain for Rick seemed to pop up the second that he had gotten back to his camp and started running the place. After all of Shane's hard work he was the deputy again, just like in police academy and just like all the years he had worked with him.

Nothing in their world really could change...

Rick was always the top dog and he was the lackey. Rick had the perfect family, even when he told him about all the struggles and fights. They were tight-knit and nothing could break the bond they had built. Shane wasn't stupid, he noticed all of those details, and he watched with a wary eye and a heavy heart.

Changes impacted them immediately and he could only go along with them. Or he could walk away from it all and do his own thing. Shane knew leaving behind Carl would kill him, but at least he'd be leaving behind any feelings he had left.

In this world he had nothing else to give but his abilities with a gun and his emotions. Ammo would be limited over time and his feelings would most likely cost him down the road. That would get him absolutely no where. If he wanted to live and survive, he needed to abandon those things that kept him restrained and tore his mind away from the task at hand; living.

* * *

Window rolled down he glanced down at the radio console. Pressing the power button he frowned at the constant emergency broadcast signals. A loon with his radical ideas and Woodstock music sounded pretty damn good to him at the moment. Even if it was elevator music, in this case something was better than nothing. The thought of Woodstock music had him craving a joint, the memories of being the high school 'bad ass' and doing whatever the hell he wanted floated around his conscious.

Still eyeing the radio console he took a chance and hit the eject button, a smile pushing over his lips as a disk pushed out. Slowing down he grabbed the CD to see what it was a gave a sigh of relief at what it was. Whoever owned this before had decent taste in music. It was one of those 'mix' CDs that people bought cause they didn't want to pay an arm and a leg for CDs that only had one song they liked on them.

Popping it back in he watched the light flash before a small disc symbol began to spin and the dial came up for the song to start playing. A little Judas Priest never hurt no body and before he reached for the volume dial he stopped himself. This was no place for blasting music, sure as hell when walkers would be roaming around him. Pushing his window up he turned the fan in the vehicle on and hit his hands lightly on the steering wheel. In some weird way it was a peaceful break from the struggle that he fought for so long since Rick had joined them again. Immediately the idea of enjoying something small seemed selfish in his given situation, quickly he realized how asinine that sounded and dropped the negative feelings that had wrecked his mind since he had woke up.

Shane continued to drive throughout the morning until he had found a small cabin right on the side of the road, it had been in better condition than the houses he had passed. Pulling off into the short dirt driveway he turned the engine off and slid the keys into his pocket. No broken windows, the door wasn't busted in at the front.

Glock on the dash he grabbed it and unlocked the safety as he climbed out.

With weary stealth he circled around the back and found the door there was also in tact. This place remained, a clean mark on the destroyed area. Reaching the door he touched the doorknob. Locked. At the front he met the same until he threw his shoulder into the door and busted it open.

He quickly scanned the area, finding the first floor empty. Returning to the door he shut it and pulled the small table next to the wall against it and climbed up the stairs. There were only three rooms and a dangling string hanging from the ceiling at the end of the hall with a pull out. Shane knew that was to the attic and eventually he'd handle that. This place had been a small two bedroom cabin with one bathroom. This would be a perfect place to bunker down when the weather wasn't great. One thing he had looked for was any sign of Sophia, but he knew that she wouldn't have even made this far in one night if she had no walkers and full experience with a weapon. The master bedroom wasn't even that big, but it had a decent sized bed with a nice quilt on it and a dresser and closet with a tv on top of the dresser.

Across the small hallway was the other bedroom, it was smaller and had a twin bed on it. Probably for a child or something. It was simple with a red comforter over it and two dressers. Moving back downstairs Shane continued to move around, clearing the tiny living room and kitchen before he returned outside to get his bags. Whoever had been here, it was like they packed and probably went to an evacuation zone. The beds were messy, stuff was on the ground around him, and a bag had been left with some men's clothes in it.

Sitting on the couch he shrugged at his surroundings. The blinds had been closed on all the windows, and it was a lot cooler in the small space compared to the heat outside. Kicking his feet back on the sofa he wished he would have grabbed one of the gallon jugs of water that been in that truck he opened. For all he knew Glenn let everyone take a shower in each of them and then whatever they had left they'd keep.

A tall glass of water, hell, even an ice cold beer sounded damn good to Shane, as it probably did to almost every person that had been alive this long. Sliding his shirt off Shane finally took a breath, finding time to relax and kick his feet up. Arms raised above his head he let a sly grin take over his face. He wished Rick was right there so he could gloat about what he found, but then again Rick would try to move everyone in and then it'd be the god damn Brady Bunch and he had already put up with that before.

No way in hell was he doing it again.

* * *

**A/N: **I just don't know how this came along so quick. I finished Sophia adjustments and then Shane's idea hit me immediately and I just started writing. I personally think Shane should still be alive. I thought of the idea of the house based on my surroundings where I live. The road and the house are based on what I saw when I used to take my old bus route. It was one of the only houses on a road that was hardly used. But yeah, Shane should still be alive :'( Shane and Merle would be my zombie apocalypse cause they get stuff done and they're hot as hell and then I'd add Michonne, comic book Andrea and Carl. That'd be one bad ass team right there. This is a little bit longer, Shane is a lot easier to write than Sophia. Next chapter will be pretty obvious and then we'll build toward the collision!  
Read, review, follow and favorite doll faces.  
Lots of love xo


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